Most Web sites concerning proportional representation are located in Great Britain, the United States, and Canada -- which is not surprising since these are the only three Western industrialized democracies that are still hobbled with the single-member district, winner-take-all system of election.

Proportional Representation for the U.S.

• The Center for Voting and Democracy. A non-profit educational organization located in Washington D.C. The Center is the leading organization in the United States dedicated to educating the public about alternative elections systems.
  
• Californians for Electoral Reform. Much useful information about PR and especially on how to organize an effective campaign for PR in your community.
  
• Washington Citizens for Proportional Representation. Good example of a local grassroots group organizing for PR.
  
• Midwest Democracy Center.  Chicago-based group advocating electoral reform, including PR.  Good section on the campaign to bring cumulative voting back to Illinois. 
• FairVote Minnesota.  Another good example of a state group promoting electoral reform.
• "Representation and Democracy" A collection of PR-related articles by journalist and activist Steven Hill.
  
  



PR Organizations Around the World

• Fair Vote Canada.  A site with a much useful information, including a good question and answer section.  The organization aims to educate Canadians about the inherent inequities in their current voting system and the strengths and weaknesses of various alternative systems, such as proportional representation. Their ultimate objective is to gain the support of all federal political parties for a national referendum on voting systems. 
  
• Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform   A fascinating grass-roots approach to electoral reform.  160 randomly chosen citizens are meeting in British Columbia, Canada to study their voting system and decide whether it should be changed.
• Electoral Reform Society Founded in England in 1884, the ERS is the longest continuous PR organization. This site contains particularly good information about the single transferable vote -- the Society's preferred form of PR. They also have an excellent analysis of the recent report issued by the Jenkins Commission that recommends a new voting system for British parliamentary elections.
• Charter88. An independent organization in Great Britain that supports a number of political reforms, including a change to more proportional elections. 
• Make Votes Count. A British coalition of groups --  including Charter 88, Electoral Reform Society, Fawcett Society, Liberal Democrats, New Politics Network, and Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, and the Green Party -- that is working on a campaign for a referendum that would create a more proportional voting system. Make Votes Count In West Sussex  is a good example of this group at work on the local level. 
• Power:  An Independent Inquiry into Britain's Democracy.  This group has completed a study of the British political system that endorses, among other things, a switch from winner-take-all to proportional representation elections. The study, "Power to the People," can be downloaded here.
• The McDougall Trust.  The mission of this British organization is to encourage research on "methods of election of and the selection and government of representative organisations whether national, civic, commercial, industrial or social."  They are publishers of the journal "Representation"  -- a leading scholarly journal on elections and electoral systems.
• Proportional Representation Society of Australia Like the ERS, this organization is a long established proponent of PR, especially the single transferable vote (called "Hare Clark quota preferential voting").
• Electoral Reform Coalition of New Zealand.  This organization led the successful fight to bring mixed-member PR to New Zealand.  The are now on a campaign for using the single transferable vote for local elections. 

Sites with Information on Voting Systems

• International IDEA (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) is located in Stockholm and its overall objective is to promote and advance sustainable democracy world-wide and to improve and consolidate electoral processes. This site has descriptions of several important books and studies produced by IDEA that are of relevant reading for those interested in PR. They include Obstacles to Women’s Participation in Parliament, by Nadezdha Shvedova, the International IDEA Handbook of Electoral System Design by Andrew Reynolds and Ben Reilly, and an internet available report on "Global Voter Turnout."
• The Jenkins Report   Released Great Britain in the fall of 1998, this is the path breaking report of the commission appointed by Prime Minister Blair to study possible changes in the British voting system. The detailed report analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of various elections systems, and then concludes by recommending that a public referendum be held to choose between the traditional single-member district plurality system, and a new two-vote system that would add a degree of proportional representation to British elections.
  
• Elections: Results and Voting Systems. From Great Britain, this site contains detailed descriptions of various PR voting systems, allocation formulas, etc.
  
• Proportional Representation Voting in Cambridge Municipal Elections.   Cambridge is the only city in the U.S. currently using a fully proportional representation system.  This site contains information about the use of the single transferable vote there.
  
• Elections in Malta: The Single Transferable Vote System in Action, 1921 - 1996 . This non-partisan site contains a great deal of data and analysis of the performance of STV in Maltese elections.
  
• Electoral Systems of the World.  Lists the voting systems used by every democratic country in the world, either in table form or in map form.

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